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Michael White, President of the France-based MYBA, a yacht brokerage trade association founded in 1984, announced in July that his organization had acquired the St. Maarten Charter Yacht Exhibition. The show will continue to be managed on behalf of MYBA by the St. Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) and will be known as the MYBA St. Maarten Charter Show. The first show under the new arrangement will take place in St. Maarten in early December.

“There will be some changes to bring it more into line with the MYBA Genoa Charter Show but the basic format will remain the same and we aim to host a top class event that retains Caribbean flair,” says Lucille Frye, owner of Super Yacht Services, the company which organized the St. Maarten Charter Yacht Exhibition in 2006. “Super Yacht Services will still be the show organizer.” Frye says that dates and other information on the event can be found on the MYBA St. Maarten Charter Show web site, www.mybacaribbeanshow.com. “We certainly anticipate an increase in yacht attendance,” she says.

During the same time period, the 46th annual Antigua Charter Yacht Show is scheduled for December 5 – 10 at the Nelson’s Dockyard Marina in English Harbour and at the Falmouth Harbour Marina and the Antigua Yacht Club Marina, both located in Falmouth Harbour. For details: www.antigua-charter-yacht-meeting.com.

Some yacht brokers are concerned that the two shows apparently will closely overlap this year. Joyce MacMullen, a yacht charter broker since 1979, helped organize CYBA (the Charter Yacht Brokers Association), served as its president for three years, and founded the CDI Guide (Charter Databank International) in 1982. “Many brokers have already booked transportation and accommodations to Antigua which cannot be changed or refunded,” says MacMullen. “I will not be going to St. Martin, but certainly will attend the show in Antigua.”

Sources in the marine industry, however, say they believe that a potential overlap in dates may work out well in the end, citing some attendee comments that they do not need to participate in the full schedule of a show and, in the past, did not have time to attend both. With an overlap, some may be able to attend the shows this year in both St. Maarten and Antigua.